An Era of Coalitions Could Be Upon Us

The Independent

…but if it is, they should be more mature than this one, and Labour needs a radical rethink of how it conducts its politics

Cosy texts between Ed and Vince. Lib Dem-hating Tory backbenchers who tell their Labour Oppo’s they have already written off the next election. Public antipathy to being sold a pup by the Government that austerity is working when it palpably isn’t. Does all this mean politics is shifting to a Labour win next time?

Although conventional wisdom says it’s too big an ask for Ed Miliband to lead Labour to victory in 2015 after such a terrible defeat just five years before, new times defy electoral orthodoxy.

The Tories took office without winning on a historically low base for a governing party. Their vote inched up painfully slowly from a low of 30.7 per cent in 1997 to 31.7 per cent in 2001, then to 32.4 per cent in 2005 Ω and finally to just 36.1 per cent in 2010.